


Trade Refused

by Machiavelliwasright, Space determinist (Machiavelliwasright)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:53:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25504750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Machiavelliwasright/pseuds/Machiavelliwasright, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Machiavelliwasright/pseuds/Space%20determinist
Summary: Padme refused to trade Anakin for General Grievous, Palpatine finds a way to use this to his advantage.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala/Darth Vader, Sheev Palpatine & Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 23
Kudos: 69





	1. Plans disrupted

Darth Sidious stared out the transparisteel window to the Coruscanti night beyond and contemplated the future. 

Senator Amidala had unexpectedly refused the trade of General Grievous for Anakin Skywalker, and now Grievous was on his way to Coruscant to stand trial for his crimes. Anakin Skywalker was likewise being transported to Raxus, the Capital of the Confederacy for ostensibly the same purpose, which left Palpatine in a bind. 

Grievous had been painstakingly groomed and selected in order to lead a large portion of the Separatist military. He was a natural warrior made more lethal by the cybernetic enhancements he had undergone as well as Dooku’s training. A match for Jedi in lightsaber combat. In addition, his species, the Kaleesh, were immune to most forms of force suggestion and manipulation, this combined with his ruthlessness made him an ideal Jedi hunter and an integral part in prolonging the clone wars, maximizing the suffering of worlds and drawing more and more power to himself. His atrocities struck fear across the galaxy, fear which Sidious was able to expertly use. 

Skywalker on the other hand was a hero of the Republic, a counterbalance to Grievous in many ways. He was fearless and his heroics were legendary. While Grievous decimated civilians and embroiled worlds in carnage, Skywalker would pull off impossible feats and do so with remarkably few casualties and countless civilians saved. When Sidious eventually made Skywalker his apprentice these heroics and his legendary reputation would ensure popular support for Palpatine and his new empire, his experience would be invaluable in the New Order as would his power. 

They were both integral to his plans, and both headed to their demise. 

Not for the first time today did he wonder, “Am I undone?”

Each solution he considered was as wretched and unsatisfying as the last. Briefly he ran through his options again, channeled the power of the dark side and considered his situation with an eye as always towards the future. 

He could sit back and allow events to take their course. Skywalker and Grievous would both die, and he would be left to manipulate the war to his desired conclusion without them. An extraordinarily difficult proposition but not impossible. Had Darth Plagueis not told him that, he, Palpatine was the most extraordinary manipulator of events in the mundane world ever to be born, surpassing even Darth Bane. Had he not proven it time and again, first by manipulating the Republic into its crises and then by profiting off them, without anyone knowing. He would be denied Skywalker’s power and popularity in his ascension, and later in disposing of the remaining Jedi but perhaps he could make do. 

Perhaps he could, but he sensed the problem with this solution did not lie in his ability to manipulate the events of the mundane world but rather in the ethereal realm of the force. Skywalker was ever The Force’s favored son, seemingly brought into being by the force itself, he defied odds and expectations with every breath he took and every battle he fought. It was one thing to order his death, another to actually kill him.

The force would almost certainly strike back against any such attempt as it had many times before. Grievous on the other hand, had no such powerful friends, his death would come as would Skywalker’s escape which would lead to an intolerable situation. Putting aside their combat abilities, A powerful symbol would be lost for the Confederacy while an equally powerful symbol would be returned to the republic, the dynamics of the war would shift irrevocably and the fear which he had so carefully stoked would fade. Which would result in fewer allies in his quest to build a new order. He would in short, be undone. 

Another possible choice would be to intervene drastically. Manipulate events in order to see Skywalker rescued by the Jedi and Grievous by the confederacy, in short, restoring things to their proper order. But in much the same way his previous plan stood up to scrutiny in the mundane world but failed in the ethereal realm of the force this plan would be easy to pull off as far as the force is concerned but would send events in the mundane world spiraling out of control. 

Blind, deaf, and dumb the Jedi might be, but even they would be suspicious of such a heavy-handed action. They would begin to realize that their enemy may not be the confederacy at all, but someone who was playing both sides of the war. Such knowledge may lead them to Palpatine, or his confederates, and even if it didn’t, it would irrevocably damage the chances of order 66 working as intended. 

More plans floated through Palpatine’s mind. He could allow grievous to die and train Anakin in the ways of the dark side early. He could rescue Grievous and allow Skywalker to find his own way out. He could instruct Dooku to train Anakin as a Sith. He could attempt to abuse Anakin and turn him into a memory wiped assassin with none of the power of a sith, cunning or indeed any real usefulness towards his overall plan whatsoever and be completely antithetical to what it means to be a sith, and indeed to use the force at all. (ahem)

Each was discarded one by one. Palpatine could not possibly train a full-fledged Sith-Lord while maintaining his guise as supreme chancellor and running the war. Even if he could make it work logistically, who could tell what state Skywalker would be in. Even across the galaxy he could sense his anger and his feelings of betrayal, and yet he knew that wouldn’t be all the boy felt. He had an unshakeable almost obsessive attachment to the Senator, one that he believed she shared with him and one that was reinforced by the force. It was one of many reasons he had believed she would have agreed to the trade.

Even after Senator Amidala had betrayed that bond Anakin maybe reluctant to let it go, and even if he did grow to mistrust and hate the Senator, unlikely thought that may be, he would still hold dear his bonds with his padawan and former master. Bonds that would preclude him from working with Palpatine towards the downfall of the republic and rise of the Sith. These bonds would likewise prevent Dooku or anyone else from turning the young jedi without extraordinary difficulty.

Likewise, releasing Grievous would send alarm bells ringing throughout the republic and the Jedi which could trace back to Palpatine, but even if that situation was not a concern, Anakin would be one. His survival and power were the only certainties in the force, not the path which lead to them. Palpatine knew the boy would almost certainly live through his planned execution but did not know how, or to what end. Would he be rescued by Jedi? Would he escape himself through some incompetence of his captors? Would he, faced with his own death, draw deeper into the extraordinary powers he contained within him and break himself free? Where would he go once, he escaped? 

Questions on top of questions, with no answer’s forthcoming. In his meditations Skywalkers future was more clouded now than ever before, all he knew for certain was that his destiny did not end in a Separatist prison. That kind of uncertainty could not be allowed and would almost certainly hinder his plans. 

Sidious gritted his teeth with rage and not for the first time cursed the Senator in his mind. Idly he thought about killing her, but his instincts told him no. Now was not the time for assassinations in the senate, and if Anakin never had the chance to face her after this betrayal it would irrevocably hinder Palpatine’s attempts to turn the boy. Not to mention, he thought with increasing vitriol, if an assassination attempt failed, he could very well become the catalyst for their reconciliation, an unthinkable error. 

With an effort Palpatine centered his rage towards his current situation and forced himself to calm down and allow his brilliant mind to work. The force was not his only gift, indeed even without it he would have been extraordinary for his mind alone. He had an uncanny ability to divide complex problems into simple accomplishable tasks and delegate them in order to move towards his overall goal. Perhaps that was what was called for here, a division of the problem.

He would start with the highest stakes problem then, Anakin. The boy was being carefully groomed to become a dark lord of the Sith. A grooming that needed to be timed precisely and which had to be accomplished with great care. While that went on though, the boy needed to grow stronger, strong enough to defeat the remaining Jedi after order 66, and to potentially help Sidious against the council if any of them lived as well as eventually killing Dooku, of course. What did he need to keep that on track?

He needed to be able to exercise some control over the boy’s future without allowing him to completely derail his overall scheme. He needed to allow the boys feelings of betrayal and abandonment to fester and his power to grow. At the same time, he needed to keep Anakin from growing more attached to his Jedi master and Jedi padawan and indeed any other friends within the order. Senator Amidala’s actions may have any number of impacts on the boy. They may push him deeper into his rage and anger and onto the side of the Sith far too early. Alternatively, they could push him towards the jedi belief in separation from attachment in order to prevent more pain. 

Indeed, Palpatine realized, he could not allow the boy to return to the order right now. Not at such a critical moment. Nor could he be allowed to venture forth on his own and find his own way back. Perhaps he would order the separatists to hold him prisoner? 

He discarded the idea as soon as it came to him. The republic and the Jedi would be expected to spare no expense in finding the hero, even if Anakin failed to escape on his own, they would come for him. And withstanding imprisonment was something Anakin was trained for, as all jedi were. He would dive deeper into Jedi techniques and meditations to get through it, something which was intolerable to Palpatine. 

What he needed was to be forced to see the shortcoming of the Jedi and the flaws in the order, without being allowed to influence Palpatine’s overall scheme. Imprisoned where he could not escape and yet not in a place where jedi meditation would be first amongst his thoughts. An impossible quandary.

His com beeped abruptly pulling Palpatine out of his thoughts. With an extraordinary effort he pulled himself back into the physical realm. It took more effort to stop from killing the man immediately upon answering it, enraged at having been interrupted at such a critical moment after leaving orders not to be disturbed.

“I left very clear instructions Mas Amedda.” He spoke into the device, menacingly. “Why have you violated them?”

The blue toady cringed back from the verbal rebuke but answered nonetheless, “My apologies, Your Excellency, Kinman Doriana is asking to speak with you. He is most insistent. Should I patch him through.”

Palpatine paused to consider it. Doriana of all people should know the impact today’s events had on his overall schemes. If he was contacting him, perhaps the man had something to offer. “Go ahead” he decided.

The holo changed and Doriana appeared. “Your excellency” he said bowing. 

Palpatine glowered at him and spoke. “I have little time for distractions or pleasantries. What was so urgent?”

Doriana smiled widely, clearly pleased with himself. “I found him My Lord.”

Palpatine leaned back in his chair and smiled slightly for the first time all day. Finally, something had gone right. steepling his fingers together he spoke. “Tell me everything.” By the time Doriana finished Palpatine dark smile was as wide as it had been on the day the clone wars had begun. Amidala may have disrupted his original plans, that much was true, but he suspected by the time all was said and done, she would regret that, very, very much.


	2. A prison of a different sort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin finds himself imprisoned in a unique way and grapples with his thoughts and feelings while the Dark Side surrounds him.

Anakin breathed in deeply and waited, in perfect stillness so as to not to alert his prey. He slowed the beating of his heart with the power of the force and relaxed his muscles. The massive form of a snarling Krayt dragon lumbered by with its huge snout outstretched sniffing idly the air around it. Eventually Anakin knew, the creature would tire of his hunt and then lean back on its hindlegs and let off the ear piercing scream its kind was so famous for, a sort of dominance display which would alert all creatures in the area that this was its territory.

It was what Anakin was waiting for. When the creature reared up, his undefended belly and neck would be exposed and easy to pierce through with his lightsaber. He just had to wait a few more seconds, he could practically feel the creature’s impatience. That’s it just a few more. And then abruptly, the creature sniffed the air, coiled into an aggressive stance keeping all 4 feet firmly planted on the ground and instead of screaming, exploded forward exactly to where Anakin was hiding. Somehow it had detected his presence.

“So much for that idea.” He thought ruefully, as he exploded into motion leaping backwards and to the side, just as the enormous form of a snarling Krayt dragon pounced at the space where he had just been.

With a nimbleness born of his jedi reflexes Anakin rolled under a fallen tree as the Dragon exploded forward again, but this time with the power of the force, Anakin lifted the tree and hurled it towards the Krayt dragon’s vulnerable snout.

The huge beast recoiled and screamed out an ungodly cry of rage and pain before snarling forward again, but Anakin didn’t give it the chance. With the creatures soft skinned belly and neck exposed, he hurled his glowing blue lightsaber in a backhanded toss which took the beasts head clean off, killing it instantly.

Breathing deeply he called the lightsaber back to his outstretched right hand and grinned ruefully, he was getting better at hunting these things at least. Krayt dragons were dangerous beasts and never hunted alone, even by experienced warriors, it gave him a sense of pride that he could do it.

Nevertheless, he got to work, cutting up the prime cuts of meat from the fallen creature, and placing them on his rigged up wagon, when he was done he pushed the wagon back towards the encampment that had become his home, with enough food to last him another week at least, and placed it in the refrigeration unit.

Another week, he thought sourly, feeling familiar resentment bottle up inside him, another week on top of the three he’d already been stuck out here. Wherever here was.

When he’d finally come to after his duel with Dooku he’d found himself in an abandoned home of some sort surrounded by a forest, with no technology or communication devices of any kind, save the one refrigeration unit, which he could use to store food. He’d spent weeks searching through the forests and the land outside it, and meditating seeing if he could detect any form of sentient life or technology anywhere on the planet.

But it eventually became clear that there was nothing, nothing he could use to send a transmission, nothing he could use to escape. He was trapped on this tiny little world, which may in fact not even be a world just a moon. He gritted his teeth as the rage returned, he didn’t even know if he was on a planet, never mind where he was.

He walked to the large bed which had been placed by his captors and sank into, closing his eyes and forcing himself to push his rage away. It was harder here, where the dark side was somehow stronger than anywhere he had ever been, perhaps ever stronger than on Mortis.

It whispered to him constantly, it spoke of his friends abandoning him, of his weaknesses, of their deaths, of his failure. It haunted his waking moments and his dream.

Well, perhaps it was not all just the place. The last thing he remembered before he had succumbed to unconsciousness and woken up on this isolated world that was his prison, was being tortured by Dooku’s magna guards, while a trade was proposed to his wife, him in exchange for grievous. A trade which it appeared she had refused.

At that thought the dark side rose up again around him, undoing the meditation he had sunk himself into, and his attempts to release his anger and rage into the force. Sighing with increasing frustration he gave up the futile attempt and leaned back against the bed clenching his fist and teeth, enraged at the uncertainty and at his own suspicions

Had she refused? Had she let her husband be tortured and perhaps executed by the Sith rather than exchange prisoners? Why? Why would she betray him like that?

She loved the Republic, perhaps more than she loved him. Anakin knew, and perhaps she thought this was the right thing to do for the Republic, for peace. The thought of it, even a month removed and uncertain never failed to draw his rage.

And yet, the only peace or joy he could ever find within himself in this haven of the dark side was when he thought of her. When he remembered their time on Naboo, and their rendezvous at the senate. When he remembered their night’s together.

He needed to talk to her, he knew, no matter what. He needed to know why, and what had happened. Pushing aside his guilt he made his way out of his room and deeper into the compound, to the only other place in this world that held any interest.

The library.

Clearly it had been once been far grander than it was now, entire shelves and rows were empty, cases which had clearly contained holo discs, recordings and data cards, were now completely empty, leaving only a scarce few physical manuscripts and data cards. They were all ancient and they were all forbidden.

They were writings and histories of the ancient sith, forbidden to all but the highest-ranking masters to read in the Jedi temple and even then, sparingly and with great care. Anakin would almost certainly never be trusted to read something like that by the council, he thought with a twinge of bitterness, chosen one or not.

Briefly he hesitated, perhaps this wasn’t the right choice, perhaps he should return to his room and wait, meditate maybe see if he could reach his master, or Ahsoka or anyone out here.

But he knew in his heart it was a waste of time, he wasn’t powerful enough to reach them all the way out here, not in this place where the dark side dampened everything he tried to do and acted as a barrier to the light. If he ever wanted to leave, he’d have to play his captors game, and he knew that started by reading these texts.

They had very clearly been chosen and left for him specifically, and perhaps that should have been enough to warn him off, but he never shied away from a challenge. Besides, what harm could texts due to him, closing his eyes he forced himself to remember, to remember his mother’s death and the aftermath.

He’d touched actual darkness before, and he had no desire ever to return to it’s embrace. No words on paper would make him a Sith lord, to be one it took a conscious will, a choice by him. One he would never make. Slowly, his last inhibitions pushed away, Anakin began to read.

Nearly a month later Anakin had finished with nearly everything that had been placed in the small library. He found himself, surprised mostly, surprised and more than a little disappointed.

The material which he had assumed to had been chosen for him with great care, and which he had thought might contain deep dark Sith secrets, were in fact nothing more than a collection of damaged and partial reports of Sith missions. They focused on obscure details which Anakin had no reference point for, assassinations of 1000 year old government figures, and building up of small networks of informants and agents. Everything was incomplete and out of context, and it was all Anakin could do to understand _what_ had happened, never mind _why_ or how this related to any kind of plan or galactic events at the time, never mind the present.

And yet vexingly, somehow, he knew that the pieces here were important, that they meant something critical, something crucial. Something he just couldn’t quite place, and he suspected he wouldn’t be able to until he was back in the jedi temple and able to research this in the archive. Perhaps he should payed more attention in history lessons after all he thought wryly.

Only one piece of the library had truly drawn his interest. A copy of the sith code written in basic, words he had never seen before.

_Peace is a lie. There is only Passion.  
Through Passion I gain Strength.  
Through Strength I gain Power.  
Through Power I gain Victory.  
Through Victory my chains are Broken.  
The Force shall free me._

Words which rang uncomfortably true to the young jedi, and which he forced himself not to think on.

Walking, over to a shelf he placed the stack of pages relatively neatly back onto a shelf and moved towards what remained of the small library. Only a single manuscript, placed off to the side away from everything else he touched, a manuscript that he knew the moment he touched it would be important.

He paused briefly as he felt it. Something on this page mattered a great deal, either the events depicted or the events that it would cause, or perhaps both.

Briefly Anakin considered putting it back and forgetting about it, but perhaps it was his boredom at the tedium or the pull of the manuscript itself, but instead he walked back to an empty chair and began to read.

When he was done, it was all he could do not to stand up and shout.

The manuscript was a detailed account of the events leading up to last battle of the Old Sith Wars nearly 1000 years ago on Ruusan, written by Darth Bane and it conflicted with everything he’d been taught in the jedi temple.

The jedi taught that The Brotherhood of Darkness had been brought down by Lord Hoth’s army of light, that when defeat became inevitable, Lord Kaan had gathered all of the dark lords, acolytes and assassins into one ceremony in order to unleash a thought-bomb, a bomb of dark side energies, onto their enemies. Further, the jedi’s account explained how Kaan was driven mad by the power of the dark side, and his fear of losing his power, which drove him to believe not only would the thought-bomb spare him, but he would in fact grow stronger after it was deployed.

To put it simply, the Jedi recorded that they had defeated the Brotherhood of darkness and then it had simply imploded in on itself as a final act of defiance.

Darth Bane told a different tale. He spoke of his own disillusionment of the brotherhood and how the Brotherhood represented a diversion from the dark side of the force, a perversion of the natural order of the Sith, and how he had engineered it’s destruction in order to conceal his new line of Sith who followed the rule of two.

To be sure the differences in accounts were subtle, but of extraordinary importance. The apparent victory over the Brotherhood of Darkness by the Jedi had led to tremendous change in both the jedi order and the Republic.

In the ensuing centuries when some evidence emerged that the Sith had concealed themselves and decreased their numbers the Jedi chalked it up to dregs of the brotherhood who had passed on their teachings or perhaps force users who had chanced upon Sith artifacts, not a real threat to either the Jedi or the Republic.

It was why Jedi training, promotions and indeed philosophy had long ago stopped valuing power in the force and martial skill. Jedi training nowadays emphasized philosophy, diplomacy, political skill and knowledge of jedi traditions even at the highest levels of the order. Of the Jedi high council only two members were truly strong in the force compared to their predecessors of ages past, Masters Yoda and Windu. Other Masters like Obi Wan and Kit Fisto were by no means weak, but against the Jedi masters of the old republic or the time of the Ruusan Reformation there was no comparison. Only Windu and Yoda had truly advanced in power and knowledge of the force compared to those jedi.

Their justification was the Jedi were peacekeepers not soldiers and that their enemies, the Sith, had been vanquished, the only dangers that existed now required more wisdom and political instinct than they did brute force. In fact, the Jedi now viewed power in the force and interest in improving as a warrior as a grave danger.

Taken at face value there was some logic behind their stance, Anakin knew, the most dangerous woes the Republic had faced in the decade’s past could almost all be traced back to fallen Jedi. From Count Dooku’s Seperatist Alliance and the ensuing galactic civil war, to the Bipfashi Dark Jedi and the crisis he created, to Assaj Ventress, all the way back to Qui Gon Jinn’s fallen apprentice Xanatos and Dooku’s other fallen apprentice Komari Vosa who led the Bando Gora. Those were the extreme examples, every day the war created more fallen jedi, more jedi who lost sight of what it was they were truly fighting for.

But, the jedi’s suspicion and distrust of anyone who wanted to grow stronger, to learn more about the force, and to become a better general for the republic, was perhaps even more dangerous in Anakin’s view. They were allowing the Republic to lose worlds and lives because of their own fears.

He had had this argument with the council and different masters more times than he could count but to no avail, nothing could pierce their arrogant belief that the Jedi did not need to grow stronger in the force, to become better warriors.

Anakin had never bought into that theory, but now he had incontrovertible proof that it was wrong. It originated from a false premise, the Sith had never been defeated at all, they had merely adapted, gone to ground so to speak. The hadn’t given up, or had the mantle taken up by some untrained fools who found artifacts. The legacy of the old sith lived on, they were just still hidden.

Anakin paused as he considered that. The rest of the order wouldn’t consider this incontrovertible he realized. They would look at it as biased account by a self-proclaimed dark lord who was barely mentioned in any other sources about the war, hardly a chief figure in the Brotherhood of Darkness.

Perhaps they were right Anakin conceded leaning back in his chair as self-doubt began to intrude. There was some evidence that the Sith that remained were nothing but dregs, or pretenders, the same that had appeared since Lord Kaan’s final defeat. Assaj Ventress was a skilled assassin, but when she faced Yoda she couldn’t even hold onto her lightsaber. Darth Maul had died to his master when Obi-Wan was still a padawan, and the only truly powerful Sith currently alive, Count Dooku, had been nearly as powerful as a Jedi.

Anakin felt his excitement dim and his confidence wane. He could hear Obi-Wan’s gentle rebuke from a million miles away, that he was getting ahead of himself, that he was focusing on himself too much, chasing power for powers sake. Or worse, that he’d allowed himself to feel the allure of Sith knowledge and artifacts and nearly won over by their deceptions.

Dejectedly he headed back up to the bed and resolved not to return to the library. There was nothing useful for him in it anyway. Anger came back at that and rage and impotence at being stuck here while force knows what happened all across the galaxy and he was forced to play these games with his captor. He shook off the thoughts before they really took root, anger wouldn’t get him anywhere and besides he needed to get his rest, now that he’d finished reading through everything in the library, dancing to his captor’s tune as it were, something might finally happen. Something that would let him get off this miserable rock and back to his wife.

He closed his eyes and thought of his her, of her smile and laugh, he pushed aside the feelings of betrayal and focused on his happier memories. Of their marriage, and the honeymoon on Naboo, and felt the old joy return to him and push away the darkness that had been hanging over him like a cloud and he drifted off to sleep.

He didn’t stay asleep for long; the hum of a starship landing woke him up in the early hours of twilight and in an instant, he was fully alert. He could only hear the one ship, which was both a good and a bad sign. It meant fewer adversaries he’d need to face to get off this rock. But conversely, if his enemies knew what they were doing, and it was always best to presume they did, then his adversaries would also likely be far more skilled. Dooku he figured and perhaps

Ventress with him and perhaps a few more magna guards. Anakin only hoped that this time he could bait the old aristocrat into fighting fair, perhaps if he meant to make Anakin his student, as the library suggested, he could be goaded into fighting him one on one and give Anakin a chance to end this war once and for all.

He called the lightsaber to his hand and stretched out with the force towards the ship, and what he felt froze him in place. It wasn’t Dooku, that was for sure. What he felt was almost indescribable, a black hole in the force, a nexus of dark side energy which allowed no light to escape. It was beyond what he had ever felt before as if he was staring into the dark side itself.

Steeling his resolve, he headed down to face this new Sith. It occurred to Anakin that the words of Darth Bane wouldn’t be a theory after today, he was about to find out just what kind of power the Sith of the modern galaxy had, for he was certainly not fighting another apprentice or assassin but a true Sith Master.

By the time he reached the ship, it had already landed, and its sole passenger stood alone at the end of the ramp, hooded and almost totally shrouded by darkness in a way that was almost certainly not natural. He had landed the ship in a circular clearing with no predators in sight, or indeed animals of any kind.

Anakin frowned at that and reached out to the forest around him not wanting to be surprised during the inevitable fight. The Sith master laughed, more of a mad cackle really.

“Don’t trouble yourself. The lesser beasts have all fled. We are the only hunters in these woods tonight.”

Anakin shook off his rough spun cloak and allowed the force to flow through him as he steeled his resolve for the fight of his life. But first, the pleasantries had to be observed. “Lesser? Even the weakest predator has more courage than you do, Sith. At least they don’t hide who they are.”

The Sith cackled again and stretched out his hands. “What I am known as to lesser beings is irrelevant. The truth of me is in the force, I am Darth Sidious, the last Dark Lord of the Sith. The Sith’ari. Destined to bring the Republic and the Jedi Order to its knees and the Sith Imperative to fruition.”

“Dooku’s master and Mauls.” He growled. It was not a question. “You’re behind the war, behind everything.” He felt his anger rise, this was his chance to end it all. To fullfill his destiny and bring peace to the galaxy.

Sidious cackled again. “What has happened is nothing compared to what is coming.”

Anakin could feel his heart pounding in his chest, the force surging through him. “Nothing is coming,” He spoke with all the confidence of destiny at his back. He was the chosen one. He was born for this. “Your manipulations are at an end and you’re going to pay for everything you’ve done.”

Anakin had a feeling if he could see Sidious’s face, the dark lord would be laughing. “Then come, Anakin. Consider this your last chance to stop me.”

A crimson blade found its way into his hand and Anakin ignited his blue lightsaber and the duel of his life began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to comment, criticize, complain or compliment. I'm pretty much an asshole myself, so if you don't like it feel free to tell me so and why. Just know I might bite back.


	3. Weakness exposed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin faces down Darth Sidious determined to end the Sith Master's plots once and for all but ends up playing right into his enemies hands.

The duel did not go well.

Sidious was a better fighter than Anakin had dared to imagine, he was faster than Master Yoda and stronger than Master Windu. Worst of all he was toying with Anakin.

He had forgone easy opportunities to end the duel, he laughed while they were fighting and hurled objects at Anakin in the force, and as each tree branch hit him, each piece of lightning burned and shocked him, each scene of a dark future flashed in his mind, Anakin’s rage grew.

And the Dark Lord knew it. “You’re weak Anakin. You’re never going to prevent my rise like this. You’ll have to do better.”

Anakin snapped. He gave up fighting like a Jedi and let his rage out, instead of controlling his anger and allowing the force to guide him as it saw fit, he used his anger, his passion and bolstered his own strength. He let loose the dragon that lived inside of him and turned his fears into white hot rage. 

He exploded into action growing stronger with each stroke forcing Sidious on the defensive for the first time in the duel. And yet the dark lord was slippery, he faded away like the morning gloom when the sun rose. Enraged at his own inability to lock the Sith lord down and defeat his foe he drew even deeper upon the force.

The force responded to his call with a surge of dark power which he released into a shockwave that exploded out in all directions. The grass underneath him was vaporized in the wake of his omnidirectional attack; the ground beneath him cratered in dropping him into a concave bowl-shaped crater he’d created in the ground. The effort left him staggering for breath and hurled Sidious back and into a tree, and yet long before Anakin felt strong enough to continue the duel the Dark Lord was walking towards him taking measured steps, allowing Anakin to catch his breath, to recover his strength. He had the distinct impression that if he could see under the hood of that heavy cloak his adversary would be smiling.

The Sith confirmed it seconds later, laughing his mad cackle and taunting his adversary “I confess myself disappointed Anakin, that’s not how a Jedi fights. Where is your vaunted Jedi control? Where is your inner peace? That felt more like passion to me.”

Anakin burned with resentment at the Sith standing in front of him, daring to mock the jedi code to his face and taunt him with his own failure to live up to its ideals. This was what the Sith wanted he realized, for Anakin to give in fully to his own weaknesses to fully embrace the dark side. That was the point of him prolonging the duel, to goad Anakin into using the darkside. He would not let him win.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to release his anger, to clamp down on his fears, and his inner darkness. He drew the dragon back inside of him and calmed his mind.

The Sith snarled and reignited the duel with a burst of speed and strength. Anakin was forced into a frantic and desperate defense, but it was not enough. He was outmatched and had lost whatever edge he’d had. His focus had shifted from winning the duel through whatever means necessary, to controlling his anger and fighting in a manner fitting for a jedi.

It happened almost too fast for him to comprehend, one moment he was ducking under a backhand slash from Sidious’s blade and bringing his lightsaber up to defend against an overhand cut when suddenly his lightsaber seemed to fall to the ground.

His eyes watched in numb disbelief and mute horror as his artificial hand fell with it, still gripping the weapon tightly. The pain caught up to him a second later, it was like his arm was on fire burning and ice cold all at once.

He forced his body to endure, reaching out with the force to call the lightsaber up to his left hand, to continue the duel. But Sidious never gave him the chance.

The Dark Lord extinguished his own lightsaber, raised both hands and pummeled Anakin with wave after wave of force lightning the likes of which he’d never felt before. It was far stronger than Dooku’s meagre efforts and left him screaming. It burned at his skin leaving ugly red and black welts and left him writhing in all consuming agony.

He let loose screams of pain and rage unable to see or think beyond his own suffering. Eventually the Dark Lord stopped his relentless assault, and Anakin could barely breathe. The force lightning had burned off the skin on his back and stomach and even after it ceased the pain stuck with him. With an impossible effort he managed to turn himself around to face his tormentor.

Sidious was standing relaxed and unconcerned, tossing Anakin’s lightsaber up and down watching it rise and fall with obvious amusement, before tucking it into the sleeve of his robe and leaning down to speak with the fallen jedi.

‘You’ve failed Anakin. But I want to you to take heart,” He said in a mocking tone of false concern and sympathy. “When I remove your master’s empty head from his feeble shoulders and crush your apprentice’s spine, I want to you to remember, ‘There is no death, there is only the force.”

He cackled again as Anakin struggled to stand fighting against every aching and screaming muscle, fighting against the incredible pain he felt. _He had to win, he had to stop this monster from continuing to wreak havoc on his family and indeed across the entire galaxy._ The Sith continued ignoring him completely, “Can you do that for me chosen one? And remember, ‘rejoice for those who have joined with the force, mourn them do no, miss them do not.’” He laughed again at his own malicious imitations of Yoda’s backward speech.

Anakin let out a roar of incoherent rage and hurled himself at the Sith Master intending to take him down also. But the Dark Lord merely stepped aside and allowed him to fall unceremoniously back into the ground.

As he lay sprawling face down on the floor his rage and fear trapped impotently inside of him the dark lord lifted a single gnarled hand and placed it on the back of Anakin’s head and continued to mock him. “Life is about your point of view Anakin. If you look at it like I’m suggesting, you won’t have failed your friends so spectacularly at all. You’re merely speeding up their reunion with the force. You’re helping them really.”

Anakin roared out again, but this time with the force. He used every bit of power remaining inside of him, every piece of fear and anger and brought them together for a single purpose, to choke the life out of his enemy, to break his neck and cut off his mocking jeers.

For a moment he succeeded, he pierced through the force shield which surrounded the dark lord and gained a grip on his adversaries’ neck. He moved to snap it and squeeze the life out of him when the dark lord struck back, releasing another wave of cascading force lightning which cut off his concentration and left him screaming.

The fight was all but out of him, he had no energy left, none to stand, none to fight, none to even call out to the force. He felt the sweet embrace of unconsciousness calling to him, and it took all his will merely to keep his eyes open, to prolong his death.

Evidently his mental shielding had floundered as well during the fight, because when the Dark Lord spoke next it was directed towards his thoughts. “Don’t worry Anakin I’m not going to kill you. It would be a mercy to kill you now and the Sith do not believe in mercy. I’m going to leave you here without your lightsaber, without your artificial arm, and without your refrigeration unit and let the predators of this world devour you. If you happen to survive, you’ll be able to reach out into the force and feel your friends die all across the galaxy. You’ll be able to see just how badly you’ve failed. “

The Sith’s mad cackles were the last thing he heard before he slipped into unconsciousness.

When Anakin came to, it didn’t take him long to realize the Sith had been telling the truth. His arm was gone, the pain from his electrocution still wracked his body. He could barely move; his entire body was swollen and in pain. His back and chest were scarred with black and red angry welts and scars.

Idly he wondered if the scars and welts were permanent, he hoped not. Padme would not be a fan of his new look, that was for sure.

Padme

Her name was enough to set off a whirlwind of emotions inside of him these days, anger and pain at her choice not to exchange him, even some vengeful rage. But it also brought to the forefront the all-consuming love he felt for her, the admiration and appreciation he had for her and the joy she brought to him. It brought to mind her incredible beauty and dignity and grace, as well as her cold calculating political acumen, that he’d never been on the receiving end of, until now.

He pushed thoughts of her aside as he had many times while he’d been here, unwilling and unable to face them. It was all so interconnected and so painful, just thinking of her made him freeze up in fear of what was to come, of how he could possibly move forward with her, and how he could live without her.

He turned his mind to his current situation and whatever danger that had awoken him. A tingle from the force in the back of his mind had prompted him to wake up and he had to find out what had caused it.

He was still in the clearing where the Sith had fought him, lying exactly where he had been when he’d been defeated. For the first time he could see the destruction they’d caused in the forest, the animals he had never noticed which had died in the carnage and the trees overturned and of course the ground cratered in.

He noticed something else too, a Nexu crawling around his downed form, his nostrils sniffing the air and his mouth seeming to water at the sight of a meal.

Nexu’s were fierce predators with wide jaws and sharp, pointed teeth. They were fast and deadly and this one could kill him in a second, especially in his current state. He was almost too feeble to stand up, let alone fight.

Yet none of that was what he thought of when he saw the Nexu, instead his mind was drawn back years ago to Geonosis when a Nexu had charged at Padme clawing its way up the pole and slashing at her back.

Beleaguered and Exhausted that he was, he remembered the scene and his chest began to heave with laughter. She’d swung from her chain and kicked the Nexu straight in the stomach, temporarily stunning and disabling it, he remembered, but his exhausted mind couldn’t help but conjure an image of her swinging down, extending her legs and kicking the nexu square in the chest and then -- hurtling it across space and time to stand right in front of him.

It was monumentally stupid and hilariously dumb, and yet it brought a smile to Anakin’s face. His first one in almost two months.

The Nexu shied backwards, momentarily surprised and confused by his prey, but Anakin paid it no mind.

Its presence had brought him clarity that meditation and dreams had denied him. It brought back other memories of Geonosis, of her falling out of the gunship and him choosing not to jump after her, of Obi-Wan’s words (‘What would Padme do in your place?’) and his own response. (‘She would do her duty.’)

And with it his anger at her fell away, and doubled into white hot fury, at himself. He was the one to blame.

He had never been worthy of her and his failure against Dooku had presented her with an impossible decision, to do her duty and what was in the best interests of the Republic or to protect her weak husband.

She’d chosen not to exchange him for Grievous, not because of some petty revenge or as some dark betrayal like he’d imagined and whispered to himself in cold dark nights, but because she genuinely believed that Grievous was more important to the Confederacy and the Separatists than Anakin was to the Republic. She’d chosen not to make the trade because he was weak.

In some ways it hurt even more and magnified the pain he felt towards her, but only because it confirmed his worst fears about himself. Deep down he knew he was weak, that he’d never live up the faith Qui-Gon and others had in him. He’d been born a slave and had failed to secure either his or his mother’s freedom, he was the furthest thing from a woman who became Queen of an entire world on her own merits.

He’d failed to save his mother and then he’d failed against Dooku only days later, powerless to prevent the Sith Lord from cutting off his arm and hurting his master and friends, despite his promise to his mother’s grave.

And now only days ago he’d failed to defeat the Sith master and end his evil plans and destructive wars once and for all. His whole life was marked by weakness.

That would end today.

He would never again be weak, certainly not weaker and more expendable than a coughing psychopathic cyborg. He’d make himself indispensable to the Republic, to her, and he’d earn her affection and become worthy of her.

Abruptly he turned his attention back to the Nexu as the force cried out that he was in danger. But he wasn’t really, not anymore. The realization of the truth of his wife’s choice had stripped away his fears and left him with burning resolve. It had lit a fire inside of him that no beast of the forest would be able to compare to.

As the beast pounced on him, he reached out with the force and suspended it in midair. For a moment he marveled at the helpless beast, it’s jaws quivering with anger, its legs fighting for purchased where there was none to be found.

Briefly the words the Jedi grandmaster flittered across his mind, _A Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack._

He’d fought like a jedi yesterday against Sidious, and he’d also fought like something else, like a human being with real anger and fury, with emotions that could fuel him and strengthen him. But his emotions hadn’t held him back, they hadn’t pushed him into a mindless rage like on Tatooine or like Obi-Wan’s had against Darth Maul. They’d given clarity to his attacks and given him purpose and a real fighting chance.

He’d been teetering on the edge of this revelation for a long time, unwilling or unable to see the truth, no matter how close it sat in front of him. He wasn’t a very good jedi, he couldn’t wish away his feelings and emotions, and to be honest he didn’t want to. They made him who he was, and when he used them, he had incredible power inside of him.

It was time to stop running from that power, it was time to embrace it. He pushed away all thoughts of jedi morality from his mind. Darkside or Light, he knew who he was, he knew what mattered to him. His wife above all else, his master and his apprentice, his friend the Chancellor. It was time to stop pretending he was a model jedi, and to embrace who he really was.

With the power of the force he snapped the Nexu’s neck and forced himself awkwardly to his feet.

When he made his way back to the crumbling fortress that had become his quarters and into the library he wasn’t even surprised when he saw what was waiting for him.

Rows and rows of Sith Holocrons. He knew he was playing into his enemies’ hands, that this was what the Sith wanted, he just didn’t care. It was like his old joke with Obi-Wan, their first move whenever they saw a trap was to spring it.

Maybe the Sith thought he could use Anakin, he could unlock his power, feed him knowledge and mold him to his will, maybe he thought he could change Anakin’s priorities, but whatever his reasons, he’d be in for a rude awakening. Anakin would use this power to defeat the Seperatists, to defeat the Sith, to bring peace to the Republic, and to make himself worthy of his wife. He would control and use this power, not allow some Sith to control and use him.

Settling himself at a desk he pulled out the first Holocron and opened it with the force. The memory crystal glowed as it sputtered on and a holographic face appeared and spoke,

‘This is the holocron of Darth Bane, Dark Lord of the Sith …”


	4. A wild bantha chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We learn a little bit about what has been going on in the wider galaxy and Padme hunts for the true culprits behind the clone wars.

“Thank you Sabe,” Senator Padme Amidala said in a crisp professional voice, “That will be all.”

Sabe hesitated, clearly fumbling over her thoughts trying to find something to say, something to make Padme feel better before she thought better of it. There was nothing she could possibly say to make this night any easier, she bowed her head slightly, mumbling, “Yes, my lady.” before heading home for the night. 

One year ago, today, Padme Amidala had refused Dooku’s trade, one year ago today, she’d lost Anakin possibly forever. Even if he was still alive, and she prayed every day that he was, would he ever be able to look at her again? Could she blame him if he didn’t?

She’d made the decision to refuse the trade to try and end the war, to bring peace to the galaxy and end the suffering of trillions. It had gnawed at her heart and eaten away at her soul, and when she made the choice, she knew she may be giving up more than just Anakin but her own chance at ever achieving real happiness. That she would be living with guilt and pain forever. But she’d made the choice regardless, because she really had believed it could have ended the war.

At first it had looked like she was right. Following Grievious’s execution the Senate had passed her motion to begin peace talks again in earnest and she’d personally made another trip to Raxus prime to try and restart negotiations with the Separatist Senate.

That had been the beginning of the end of her dream of peace, she reflected. The Separatists had pointedly refused to engage in any talks whatsoever and condemned the Republic for what they called the ‘unjust murder’ of General Grievous. Further they launched a series of attacks on Republic controlled space while the Republic had committed to a ceasefire. The war had resumed almost immediately.

Still Padme held out hope of a quicker end to the war, without Grievous to lead them the Separatists lost one of their main generals and symbols holding the whole thing together. Again it looked like things in the wider galaxy might turn out even marginally better, several key worlds defected to the Republic, shipyards and droid production facilities included, and the Republics new campaign into Seperatist space spearheaded by the Jedi had made incredible progress winning battle after battle, planet after planet. 

That had all changed at the battle of Raxus Prime though, where the Republic made a thrust to the heart of Separatist space to end the war once and for all. Nearly 200 Republic dreadnoughts and many more battle cruisers had been in the fleet, and they’d all been destroyed in an overwhelming Separatist victory.

It had been the first major separatist victory of the year but not the last, not by a long shot. The Separatists had recruited a new Admiral to lead the war effort, one whose tactics and skill had devastated Republic forces time and again, eventually retaking all of the planets the Separatists had lost since Grievious’s capture and beginning to attack Republic worlds. He was a blue skinned humanoid Alien with blue black hair and glowing red eyes. He went by the name of Thrawn.

Despite appearing out of nowhere roughly 3 months after Grievious’s capture with no record of his existence in the known galaxy before that, he’d already somehow achieved the rank of Admiral in the Confederacy, and it had been he who was charged with the defense of Raxus and he who had decimated the Republic forces so completely.

He was also incidentally why Padme had called on Sabe and had her return to Coruscant. Since leaving Padme’s service almost 7 years ago, shortly after Padme had become Senator, Sabe had gone on to lead an organization in the outer rim that was dedicated to freeing slaves, helping them escape and intercepting them in transit before they were sold.

It had been an organization they’d founded together and were both still very much a part of, Padme provided fundraising, negotiated with planetary governments for resettling and recruiting volunteers and employees and expanding their efforts amongst the core worlds.

Sabe though, dealt with much of the ground work, the actual resettlement of slaves, the inroads they’d made with organizations that already did this kind of work made up of escaped slaves and of course the fringe types, people smugglers and other groups who were a necessary if distasteful part of the whole enterprise.

It brought her into contact with a lot of outer rim peoples and worlds and gave her a knowledge of the galaxies underbelly that was invaluable. It also made her the perfect person to turn to when Padme needed to try and identify a species for which no records existed in the Senate archives or anywhere Padme turned.

Unfortunately, Sabe had never heard of a species like this either, the Blue-skin and blue black hair weren’t uncommon on their own, they showed up on dozens of species, the same went for the red eyes, though none of those species eyes glittered in quite the same fashion this Thrawn’s eyes were said to, but put together no species in the galaxy matched what Padme was looking for.

The datapad Sabe gave her only confirmed it, and as Padme looked at each alien species who matched any of the characteristics it wasn’t hard to rule them out one by one. Sighing she tossed aside the datapad and poured herself a glass of wine, her fifth of the night.

She walked out onto her balcony and stared up at the stars feeling the tears start to form in her eyes. It was almost midnight and up until now Padme had been able to keep herself busy drowning in work, she’d scheduled non-stop Senate meetings with other members of her committee, she’d negotiated with a Sluisi delegation regarding increasing direct purchases of Naboo’s plasma which would increase the portion of the profit that went to Naboo compared to the intermediaries and middle men, and then she had continued her search for Thrawn’s species in attempt to ascertain his origins and motives and hopefully open a dialogue with them, or failing that find a weakness for the Republic to exploit. But now the day was over, the distractions behind her, and her mind was drawn back to her lost husband.

His smile, his laugh, his constant joking and bantering, his wild cursing in huttese and his big blue eyes. She found herself cherishing every memory she had with him, even arguments and fights. Fresh tears came to her eyes and trickled down her cheeks as she remembered the way he looked at her, like he still saw her as the Angel he’d thought he met back on Tatooine, like she could do no wrong.

It had embarrassed her sometimes and even scared her the way he had such absolute faith in her, such a belief that she was infallible. But it also emboldened and flattered her, it was a wonderful feeling to have someone who loved and admired you that much, beyond her roles in government or her political stances or anything else in particular about her. Just by being herself Anakin loved and praised her.

Anakin wasn’t in love with her because she was a Senator or a Queen, he just loved her as a person, and he loved with a raging passionate fire that it was impossible not to be swept up in.

At least he used to love her like that, it was impossible for her to truly believe their relationship would ever move forward, would ever recover from her choice, she knew. She felt her tears falling more freely now, becoming sobs and she just let them fall, overwhelmed for a few minutes by the despair she tried so hard to fight.

Abruptly she felt a pair of comforting hands on her shoulder and a soft soothing voice in her ear, “It’s going to be okay.”

She whirled around her heart in her throat, “Anakin?” she gasped out, hoping against hope, against reason and logic that it would be him. Of course, it wasn’t, he was still lost Force knows where, but it was the next best thing, her best friend and loyal companion, Sabe.

She couldn’t help but give a weak laugh that came out more as a sob, “I told you to go home for the night.”

Sabe smiled sadly at her former Queen and wiped away some tears from her Queen’s eyes, “I couldn’t sleep when I knew you were hurting, My Lady.”

Padme relaxed into her embrace and shook her head. “I deserve the pain Sabe, you know what I did.”

Sabe turned Padme around by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes, “You did what you had to do. You did what was best for the Republic, for the good of everybody.”

Padme gave a short bark of laughter, “And look how that turned out, tell me the truth Sabe, has anything improved? Is the Republic any better off?”

Sabe hesitated, not wanting to lie to her friend, but trying to find a way to make her feel better all the same. “Grevious was a monster Milady, you know that.”

“And they replaced him with another monster, Sabe. This one even more dangerous. And no doubt if we manage to get rid of him, they’ll find someone else.” Padme said sounding more defeated than Sabe had ever heard her.

“Then we can try something else, maybe another attempt at peace talks. Or a temporary truce and armistice. There has to be something we can do.” Sabe said trying desperately to cheer her friend up, to reignite that spark, that passion that made Padme Amidala such a force to be reckoned with, made her someone Sabe would happily die for.

Padme shook her head despondently, “It wouldn’t matter even if we did.” She walked out further along the balcony and stared out with her hands on the railing, seemingly transfixed by the stars. “I’ve tried everything I can think of none of it has made any difference in the end. The war just keeps chugging along, millions of people dying every day. “

She looked back at her former handmaiden who looked to be on the verge of tears, and took a deep breath, trying to pull herself together. She had to be strong, if not for herself, then for the people counting on her. “Go home Sabe, we’ll get back at it tomorrow.”

Sabe walked towards the door, and paused at the threshold, turning back to look at the woman she admired more than any in the entire galaxy, the woman she devoted her life to. It hurt her in her very soul to see her like this, defeated and alone. She had to make her see that, to make her see that she had made a world of difference, both to Sabe and in the lives of the billions, no trillions of people she’d devoted her life to serving.

She walked back to the balcony and flashed her mistress a small smile, as if to say, ‘I’m not going anywhere.’, while she gathered up her words. “Do you remember the first time we came here, to 500 Republica? Back when the trade federation invaded Naboo and we barely got out alive.”

Padme looked back at her and gave a small nod before Sabe continued. “I was doubling for you in that first meeting with Senator Palpatine, if you remember back, and it took everything I had just to hold it together. I was terrified, I didn’t know what to do, and he made it sound like the Senate wouldn’t help us. I just couldn’t see a way out.”

She swallowed past a lump in her throat and continued in a stronger voice. “But you did Padme! When our backs were against the wall and the Senate wouldn’t help us, you didn’t accept defeat, you found a way. You overthrew a supreme chancellor for Force’s sake, at 14! And then you went back and crushed the Trade Federation and freed our people. You’ve done things no one else could have done, and I know in my heart you can do it again.”

Padme smiled at her a real genuine smile, remembering happier times. Not that the blockade and the mad dash to Coruscant were necessarily happy, but there were happy moments she could take away from them, when her friends rose to the occasion and her people showed their strength and overcame the challenges that faced them.

Sabe grinned at her and gave a small thump on the shoulder. “So, when you wake up tomorrow go out there and show the Separatists, you’re not someone to be trifled with.”

And just like that Padme’s good mood faded away, replaced with doubts and uncertainty. Sabe noticed almost immediately, “What is it?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure the Seperatists are the really enemy anymore.” Padme said turning away.

Sabe looked at her with stunned disbelief. “What do you mean the Seperatists might not be the enemy? If they’re not, then who is?”

Padme glanced back at her before looking away again and took a deep breath before replying, trying to put her thoughts into words. She hadn’t shared her suspicions with anyone else before, hadn’t even completely thought them through to herself, she didn’t know how to explain them. 

“I’m not a soldier,” She began, not knowing how else to start, “and galactic wars haven’t occurred in a thousand years in any case, but even so, something feels off. The war feels too neat, somehow, too clean. We get rid of General Grievous and the Separatists still refuse to come to the negotiating table, even when they start losing battle after battle. Then someone else no one ever heard of immediately takes his place, like a backup player on a sports team.”

She glanced over at her friend and saw the doubts clear on her face and rushed to continue, “It’s not just Grievous either, that’s just one example. Take the war itself, Clones vs Droids. Two artificial armies created to fight each other. Every other Galactic war has had widespread enlistment and forced conscription, but not this one. We have all the devastation and death of galactic war, but none of the sacrifice. At least not here in the core.”

“And look at the Clones themselves” She said, getting on a roll now. “ Jango Fett was one of the most notorious Jedi killers of our time, and a Mandalorian to boot, a sworn enemy of the Jedi, why would Master Sifo-Dyas choose him as the template? Why did Jango agree? And where did Sifo-Dyas get the credits to fund it?”

“I thought the mystery of who funded the Clones was solved? Wasn’t it funds from Eriadu and Umbara and maybe Malastare too?” Sabe interjected.

Padme paused to consider her answer. Sabe was right, at least officially. As soon as the clone wars had begun the Senate had formed a committee to look into the clones, to determine how they were grown, who paid for them and why they had shown up so conveniently.

Padme had several friends and supporters on that committee who’d kept her appraised of the investigation up until it’s conclusion and Sabe was correct, they’d found evidence that the funding came from the planetary governments of a handful of core and expansion region worlds, Eriadu, Umbara and Malastare included.

Padme had never fully bought into that story though, she remembered the long fight against the military creation act, and the discussions she’d had with Senators from those worlds. She’d never gotten the impression that they had already funded an army in secret or anything of the sort. Of course, once the war had started and the clones became the Grand Army of the Republic, those senators had been all too happy to take credit and boost their standing in the Senate with stories of incredible foresight and patriotism.

But it had always gnawed on her why they had participated in long negotiations and gave speeches about the logistics of training an army of enlisted soldiers and building a military up from almost nothing, when they should have known they had already done all that years ago. The Senators claimed that they’d been merely misdirecting the Separatists and concealing the true strength of the Republic but it always felt like more than that to Padme, like they hadn’t known about the clones at all and simply found themselves in a position to take credit once they were known to exist.

She’d never had any proof of her suspicions of course, until very recently, and she wasn’t sure how much she wanted to say. She considered it briefly before deciding to go all the way. She’d already come this far, and she had to talk to someone about it, at the very least to make sure she wasn’t going crazy and seeing shadows where there were none. Besides Sabe was perhaps the person she trusted most in the galaxy.

“Do you remember when I took that mission with Senator Clovis to Muunilist?” she asked hesitantly. Sabe nodded slightly and she continued. “You gave me a long list of reasons why I shouldn’t take it, and how it would only increase my pain and guilt.”

Sabe remembered all right, it had been one of the few times she’d recommended Padme not follow her head, and not do what she thought was right. It wasn’t that she thought the mission was unimportant, but rather she knew what kind of a low life Rush Clovis was and how he felt about Padme and didn’t want the Senator to have to face that kind of thing while she was still hurting. She didn’t say all of that though, she just said, “I remember.”

Padme smiled slightly, clearly aware of what Sabe was thinking. “You were right as a friend, but there was another reason I had to take the mission. While Clovis and I were reviewing the banks files and getting rid of the Muuns who used to be in charge I was able to get a top-level slicer remote access to the banking clans computer terminals.”

Sabe’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Tell me your joking. My lady, it was far too dangerous. It’s a serious crime”

Padme shook her head, “It was important Sabe, I had to.”

Sabe glared at her, “You should have had me do it for you Senator. You’re far too important to risk in something like that.”

Padme laughed clearly amused. “Your loyalty is touching Sabe, truly it means everything to me; but there are some things I have to do for myself. Clovis would’ve seen right through a deception.”

Sabe ground her teeth but didn’t push the point. “So, what did you find?”

Padme seemed to sober up and returned to gazing out the balcony. “It was exactly as I thought. The money didn’t come from Planetary governments or any government that I could see. It was routed through holding companies and shell companies and a maze of financial firms that my accountants could barely make heads or tails of. All I know for sure was that it wasn’t funded by any of the people who said they funded it, they laid a false data trail later, with help from inside the banks.”

Involuntarily Sabe shivered slightly, the intrigues seemed to be building towards something and Sabe was sure she wasn’t going to like what her mistress suggested next. “What are you thinking?”

Padme eyes found Sabes and she shrugged slowly. “I don’t really know what to think exactly. I just know things aren’t as they seem. Two separate peace proposals that went nowhere. Armies and commanders appearing as if out of thin air, and some clandestine financial group funding everything, hidden in the shadows.”

Sabe nodded slowly, beginning to finally see what was bothering Padme so much these last few months. “I think your right, but we have to dig deeper. What’s your next move?”

Padme looked at her in surprise, “Next move? I haven’t really thought of one. I can’t show this to the senate, not unless I want to be locked up for illegal slicing amongst other crimes, and the trail seems to have gone cold trying to find who provided the money.”

“Not necessarily,” Sabe said, “I have some contacts in the outer rim who can look at that data trail, they might be able to find something accountants here on Coruscant might miss. I’ll get this to them first thing tomorrow, with your permission of course.”

Padme nodded slowly, “I’d appreciate that. And as for Thrawn,” She shrugged again, “There is not much we can do. We’ve established he isn’t from any part of the Republic or the Outer rim, which pretty much leaves the Unknown Regions and entirely new Galaxy. Not a lot of data we can find in either case.”

Sabe thought about it for a second before an old memory flashed into her mind, “Didn’t the Senate approve a mission to explore the Unknown Regions a few years back before the war? Outer Flight? Or something like that, they might know something.”

Padme looked startled but only for a second before she shook her head grimly. “Your right, The Outbound Flight Project, unfortunately we lost contact with the ship shortly after it appeared in the Unknown Regions, the entire crew is considered missing presumed dead.”

Sabe paused briefly before speaking, “They might’ve sent out scouting expeditions beforehand though, teams to explore that part of space. Are there any records of those?”

Padme frowned considering, “No records I could find, I don’t remember hearing about any scouting activities?” She moved back inside following her friend as she walked over to a data terminal. “What are you doing?”

Sabe spent a few seconds plugging in file requests before silently asking Padme for the clearance codes. Padme provided them and then an error message appeared. She spoke as she typed. “You wouldn’t have heard anything about it, when we send security to scout out diplomatic meetings and other things, we usually file the support with the Naboo security Chiefs not your office personally, it’s possible they did as well. There it is.” She gestured to the file with the error message and Padme grabbed the data pad with her left hand and looked it over.

“It says the files were sealed by Supreme Chancellor Valorum almost immediately after they were acquired.” She said, studying them briefly. “I suppose I’ll have to meet with him in person and see what we can learn.”

Sabe smiled at her friend slyly, “I’m not sure he’ll be very happy to meet you after the way you two parted ways.” She said, remembering back to Padme’s vote of no confidence.

Padme gave her a small smile in return, “Maybe, maybe not. Only one way to find out. Contact his office and schedule a meeting and see what you can find on the financial data.” She glanced at her chrono and turned a stern eye towards Sabe, “Tomorrow. And Sabe, thank you for everything tonight, I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Sabe smiled at her mistress, glad that she could take her mind off Anakin for at least a little while longer. “You’ll never have to find out, my lady. And trust me, something will come of this, you’ll see.”

Padme gave her a small smile as she left and returned out to the balcony to stare back out at the stars. The grief and pain that were ever present came back to her, but so did a renewed sense of resolve. Telling her friend her suspicions had taken a load off her chest, and helped her plan a course of action forward, it had also was nice to lay it all out and realize that she was onto something.

Sabe was right, she couldn’t give up. She may never see Anakin again, may have lost him forever, but she could make his loss worth it. If not for her, than for the trillions of people in the galaxy she’d sworn to serve.

She’d find a way to end this war and find who was really responsible. One way or another she was going to succeed. For Anakin.

Almost a week later former Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum’s sleek transport glided onto the landing ramp outside Padme’s apartment. To her mild surprise he’d agreed to meet with her without any cajoling whatsoever and had made time in his schedule to do so promptly.

She greeted him at the landing ramp and exchanged a few pleasantries before inviting him inside and opened up a glass of Sullust brandy, an old favorite of Valorums or so she had heard.

As they settled into a comfortable silence, Padme decided it was time to broach the reason she approached Valorum in the first place. “As my office said when they contacted you we’ve been looking into some old files that your administration had sealed. Here’s a list of them.” She passed a data pad over which contained a list of scouting operations into the Unknown regions undertaken by Valorum’s administration in preparation for the Outbound flight Project.

He perused it thoughtfully before replying. “Ahh, I’m afraid you’re on something of a wild bantha chase, my lady. The files don’t really exist.”

Padme looked at him mildly confused, “They don’t exist, what does that mean.”

Valorum sighed and set down his glass massaging his temples slightly. “It’s quite simple really, there were no ships sent out to scout prior to Outbound flight being launched, the files were created as a stalling tactic.”

Padme still didn’t understand, “A stalling tactic? What for?”

“Jedi Master Jorus Cbaoth, of course.” Valorum said, rather pointedly. “He was a prominent Jedi from before your time who was very politically connected and strong in the force. Outbound flight was his passion, and he was determined to see it through.”

Valorum paused briefly, taking another sip of his brandy before continuing. “I never really shared his enthusiasm, neither did the Jedi Council at the time, it seemed a foolish endeavor to send so many Jedi outside the galaxy proper while our own backyard was far from in order. We didn’t want to alienate Cbaoth though with an outright refusal, so we simply made it look like Outbound Flight was moving forward. We were learning more about the regions first, making contact with locals, discovering workable hyperspace routes, you know the usual.” He said with a vague hand wave, “In reality though, no missions were ever launched. We had some reports of a dustup between the locals of the region, some military conflicts and didn’t want to risk sending any ships.”

Padme considered the information in silence. It was disappointing to say the least, though not necessarily surprising. She had actually been surprised when Sabe had mentioned that scouting missions had taken place, after all wasn’t scouting one of the primary functions of Outbound flight itself? And if Outbound Flight had been destroyed with 6 fully armed dreadnoughts and 7 Jedi Masters than how did small scout vessels survive.

A small chime interrupted her reverie as her holo transmitter beeped, she smiled apologetically at Valorum, but he waved his hand indicating it was alright for her to take it. She clicked on the com and Sabe’s face appeared. “Hello Sabe, did you find something?” She asked, straight to the point.

Padme could tell from the expression on her face that she hadn’t, her words merely confirmed that fact. “Unfortunately, not, My lady. We were able to trace the funds as far back as a holding company called ‘Bane Holdings’ but were unable to trace it further. We couldn’t find any operators or employees of Bane holdings or owners listed either. “

Padme nodded dejectedly, one dead end after another. Her accountants on Coruscant had also taken it that far. Between that and Valorum’s revelation, her revelations from the other night had proven remarkably fruitless. Whoever was behind this covered their tracks incredibly well. “I appreciate the work, nonetheless, Thank you Sabe.”

She keyed off the com and turned back to Valorum. “Thank you for your time Chancellor, I’m sorry for bothering you about this, if I had known… “ She trailed off as she noticed the expression on Valorums face, His eyes were fixed on her with almost frightening intensity, his expression hard and unreadable. “Chancellor?” She said uncertainly.

He shifted his gaze to look her in the eyes though maintained that same hard stare for several seconds before speaking. “What is your business with Bane Holdings?” He said suddenly.

“My business? What do you mean?” Padme asked uncertainly. Abruptly it occurred to Padme that it may have been a very bad idea to take that holocall with Sabe in front of Valorum. She knew they were looking into a potentially dangerous mystery, but it hadn’t occurred to her that someone like Valorum could be involved.

He’d after all been retired for almost 15 years after leaving office in disgrace, well before any of what they were looking into had come to pass. Now though she had to tread very carefully, though considering the dead ends they had run into so far, this may be the best lead they had. She would have to play this very carefully indeed.

“Exactly what I said,” He growled out harshly. “What business do you have with Bane holdings?”

Padme shrugged noncommittally. “My business concerns are my own Chancellor, I’m afraid that’s all I will say on that subject until I know why you’re so interested in them.”

Valorum held her gaze for almost a full minute before his expression dropped and the anger seemed to melt away. He looked away and what looked like grief took its place. “They ruined me.” He whispered with more than a hint of despair. “They destroyed my career, my reputation, dragged the Valorum name into the dirt, made a mockery of my family legacy and I was powerless to stop them.”

Padme looked at him in astonishment, “They ruined you? Who? How?” It was a strange accusation to hear from Valorum, doubly so that he would say it in her presence. As far as she knew, she’d been the one to ruin Valorum by calling for the vote of no confidence which had removed him from office. It had been one of the reasons she had been surprised he’d come at her invitation given her own role in his downfall. To hear that he blamed someone else entirely was surprising to say the least.

He finished off his glass of brandy and poured himself another drink without even looking at her before speaking again. “You probably didn’t know this at the time, you were far too young and had concerns of your own, but shortly before you called for the Vote of No Confidence, I faced accusations of corruption, embezzlement and accepting bribes.”

Padme actually did know that. She’d been rather shocked at the time that she had unseated a sitting supreme chancellor as a 14-year-old queen and yet couldn’t rally any support towards her planet’s plight in the Senate. When she’d dug a little deeper, she realized she’d only been the straw that broke the camel’s back, not the actual cause of his ouster. Regardless, she said nothing and allowed him to continue, the first vestiges of excitement trickling down her spine, something was coming, something important. What was that old saying, ‘when the force closes a blast door it opens a viewport?’

Valorum continued in his same morose tone, “All of the accusations were false, of course but they appeared very convincing on the surface. You see a company dumped tens of millions of credits into Valorum Shipping, paying for services never rendered, paying for ships never built. I’ll spare you the details but in essence they dumped millions of credits towards making it appear that bribery and corruption had occurred. Everyone ate it up of course, and I barely avoided facing criminal charges and in the end the Valorum name that was once had a proud legacy of service and dignity was dragged through the dirt and my legacy tarnished, my powers as chancellor stripped away first and then I was forced out of office in disgrace.” He finished staring at her with the expression of an aged and broken man. It was clear he didn’t expect her to believe him, and Padme had to admit if it wasn’t for the circumstances of their meeting she never would have.

The story was just too far-fetched. Why would anyone commit dozens of crimes and spend millions of credits just to make a political opponent look bad? Anyone exposing themselves to that kind of risk had to get something more tangible in return. Unseating a supreme chancellor didn’t guarantee that favorable legislation was passed, or a chancellor of your choosing was elected. But in this case… “Bane Holdings did that?” She asked warily.

Valorum nodded, staring at her with a slightly more guarded and earnest expression, hopeful but doubtful as well. “Not directly, of course. Through layers of shell companies and corrupt financiers but the trail ran dry with them, they were where most of the money was first amalgamated and disbursed. Hence my question, what business do you have with them?”

Padme paused to consider her answer. She could brush him off and deflect the question. He would be unhappy of course, but it was certainly the safest option, she hardly knew Valorum and he had no reason to be friendly with her given their history. Admitting to what she knew would also be admitting to the crime she committed to get the information, something he could definitely use against her.

On the other hand, he was a much more highly placed politician way back when these machinations had begun decades ago, he might be able to help, and he was the one who brought her this new lead. In the end she decided he had a right to know, even if they had a bit of a troubled past, he deserved the right to know what the organization that had ruined him and his families good name had also been a part of.

She took a sip of brandy and nearly winced at how strong it was before settling back to tell him what she’d learned. “I don’t know how much you keep in touch with politics these days Chancellor, but by chance have you been following the Senate Inquiry into the origins of the Clone army?”

Valorum nodded, his eyes slightly suspicious, before she continued. “To cut right to the heart of it, their conclusions were wrong. I managed to get a slicer unfettered access to banking clan computer terminals on Muunilist. He found that what the Senate traced was actually a false trail left with the help from someone inside the Banks themselves. The actual money was routed through many different intermediaries and financial groups but dead ends at Bane Holdings.”

His reaction was everything she hoped for. The same fire he’d been directing at her earlier came roaring back, mixed with an expression of stunned disbelief. “Are you certain of this?” he managed to gasp out.

She nodded gravely. “I’ve had teams of accountants double and triple check their work, and I trust the slicer, I can provide you with copies of the data trail if you’d like. Some Clandestine group deliberately funded the Clones decades ago, and they were not some patriotic planetary governments.” She said with scorn.

He leaned back into the couch, clearly still stunned by what he’d heard. “I long suspected that there had to be something more behind these people, but this.” He breathed out slowly before looking at her with a more severe expression. “Senator, I want to thank you for bringing me in on this, I’ve been chasing information about this group for almost a decade now.”

Padme accepted his thanks with effortless curtesy and humility. “Think nothing of it Chancellor, I feel as if the Force brought us together on this. Perhaps united we can find something where we failed individually. Do you have any ideas about how we can move forward?”

Valorum nodded gratefully and set down his glass. “Do you mind if I pace?” He asked almost suddenly, “I haven’t dealt with this kind of political intrigue in a very long time, and it always helped me think.”

Padme shook her head with a smile, “Not at all, I’ll be on the balcony, I usually do my best thinking out there.”

She poured herself a glass of water, forgoing the harsh taste of the sullustan brandy, and walked out to take in the Coruscanti sun set. Even after all these years it was still breathtaking, and with it’s beautiful backdrop she began to think.

Sometime later, before the Sun had completely dipped below the horizon she saw Valorum walking out towards her a serious but slightly pleased expression on his face and a data pad in his hand. Padme hoped that meant he’d discovered a way forward, because She had not had any such luck. Knowing of Bane Holding’s connection to sinking Valorums Chancellorship was certainly interesting but it didn’t help her come any closer to who was actually behind this whole mess.

“Did you think of anything promising?” She asked with a friendly smile.

Valorum nodded hesitantly, “I think so.” He said slowly, “I think the financial data is probably a dead end, I’ll have my accountants look at the trail you found if you think it’s wise, but if they covered their tracks like they did with me, I doubt they’ll find anything. But I think they’re false trail may give us somewhere to start. Eriadu, Umbara, Malastare and a few others. These worlds had to have some involvement.”

Padme shook her head regretfully. “I’d considered that as well, but I don’t really think so. At least not to any meaningful degree. One of the reasons I was suspicious of their story is just how jaggedly it fit with how those senators behaved prior to the discovery of the Clone army. I really don’t think they knew anything about it before hand or were involved in any way with its creation or Bane Holdings.”

“You’re missing my point I think,” Valorum said with a small shake of his head, “I agree with you, I don’t think these Senators or governments were ultimately behind any of the schemes, but they clearly have to share a common thread of involvement with whoever was. A clandestine sort of partnership that was strong enough for them to be awarded credit for the funding of the clone army and trusted not to reveal who was really behind it.”

He handed her the data pad before continuing. “That kind of trust can only really occur with face to face meetings over a long period of time. Exactly the kind that occurred there.”

Padme read the data pad for a moment before glancing up with a confused frown on her face, “On Sojourn?” She asked. “I’ve never heard of any conferences or meetings on this world.”

Valorum smiled coyly, “Not a world, a small moon. It was known colloquially and somewhat dramatically as the hunter’s moon in fact, owing to its large population of predators imported from all across the galaxy, or so I’ve heard, I’ve never actually been. And to answer your question, there is no reason you should have. Sojourn used to be a place where influential and likeminded financiers, mercenaries and politicians met for annual clandestine gatherings in order to push some common agenda. They were discontinued almost 10 years before I became Chancellor. Nonetheless, each of these worlds were key members of the gatherings for a very long time and helped push forward the groups goals in the Senate.”

Padme took in the information with an outwardly stoic expression, inwardly though, she was reeling. Clandestine gatherings on a secret moon by a secret cabal, it sounded almost exactly like what she was looking for and what she feared she’d find. She looked over the coordinates and thought about them briefly before coming to a decision. “Then let’s go check it out.”

Valorum looked at her with obvious surprise. “Check it out? You can’t mean now?”

Padme nodded, “I do. Think about it Chancellor, whoever this group is, they obviously have incredible resources and connections. They’ve masterminded some incredible political upheaval across several decades while managing to stay free from any large investigations. If we delay, they may catch wind of our investigation and destroy any evidence we might find. We have to go now.”

Valorum looked at her uncertainly, “It’s just so sudden,” he mumbled, “I have other appointments, Senator.”

Padme cut him off with a sharp look, “You said these people dragged your family name through the mud and destroyed your reputation, what could be more important than finding them and bringing them to justice.”

He waffled for only a second longer before his resolve appeared to harden, “You’re right of course. Let me grab some clothes for the journey and then we can head off, I’ll also charter one of my company ships, if we’re trying to stay inconspicuous it’s probably better to travel in one of those. You’re a very prominent figure and I know for a fact the tabloids track your yacht.”

Now it was Padme’s turn to hesitate, but again only for a second. While she didn’t know Valorum very well and would normally be hesitant to go on a potentially dangerous journey with a virtual stranger on his ship no less, she wasn’t lying when she said she thought the force brought them together on this, and she would see it through.

She contacted captain Typho and had him ready a security team and commed Sabe to inform her of their plans. Sabe wasn’t happy with the plan but agreed to keep her trip hidden and contact the Jedi council if they didn’t return promptly.

A little over an hour later they were off speeding into hyperspace, and less than a full day’s travel later they arrived. They touched down near the only structure that still remained on the world and Padme descended the ramp with Valorum by her side and her security team at her back.

She’d thought she was ready for anything, an unsatisfying wild Bantha chase, a dead end, a treasure trove of information about some grand conspiracy, anything. But nothing could have prepared her for walking into the abandoned Fortress and finding herself face-to-face with her missing husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick Side note: the financial trails linking the funding of the clone army and Valorums ouster aren't just my invention for this story. In the Darth Plagueis novel Hego Damask is behind both events and that's also the case here. While it isn't made clear in the novel I always assumed he'd have done so using shell corporations and would probably have someone else take credit for funding the clones in order to avoid himself coming under suspicion which is what I have here. 
> 
> Padme deciding to take the mission to muunilist with Clovis but doing so with some deception is a result of the changes that have occurred. She's not really comftorable going with him knowing Anakin would hate it with him still missing, but because of all the weird shit that' happened to keep the war going she feels she has to and decides to use it as an opportunity to dig deeper into who's really behind this mess.
> 
> This chapter is definitely the one I feel worst about so far so please let me know what you think. Criticism is welcome.


End file.
